Politics: January 2009
Sam Adams and Sex Scandals in High Office
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 31, 2009 12:00 PM |As the Portland scandal mushrooms higher on the national scene, even Time Magazine has waded into the speculation on whether out gay Mayor Sam Adams' promising political career will survive the uproar. Adams is the first gay man to be...Read More
Sam Adams and Sex Scandals in High Office
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 31, 2009 12:00 PM |As the Portland scandal mushrooms higher on the national scene, even Time Magazine has waded into the speculation on whether out gay Mayor Sam Adams' promising political career will survive the uproar. Adams is the first gay man to be...Read More
RNC Chair Michael Steele on LGBT Rights
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 31, 2009 10:00 AM |There are times when you have to look at the Republican National Committee and think "Bless their little hearts." That's exactly what came to mind as I watched RNC members elect African-American former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele as its...Read More
State of the Movement
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 30, 2009 8:30 PM |UPDATE: Video excerpts of Rea's speech have been added at the end of the post. Editors' Note: Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force delivered the following speech at the 21st National Conference on LGBT...Read More
Broward Municipal Election Endorsements from Equality Florida Action PAC!
Filed by Nadine Smith | January 30, 2009 1:00 PM |The Equality Florida Action PAC has released their endorsements for the Broward County Municipal Election (including Bilerico-Florida Contributor Anthony Niedwiecki!): Supporting Trailblazers and Champions Equality Florida Action PAC only endorses candidates who meet a combination of our strategic criteria: They...Read More
Best Creating Change Swag EVER: The Amazing Transgender Equality Pen!
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 30, 2009 12:00 PM |So the best swaggy giveaway at the Creating Change Conference is by far the National Center for Transgender Equality's "Amazing Transgender Equality Pen." (click the photo to enlarge). For those that can't make out the writing in the picture, here's...Read More
Marriage in Indiana: The Non-Defining Moment
Filed by Don Sherfick | January 30, 2009 11:00 AM |I'm always a little skeptical when the proponents of constitutional amendments that would, in their words "define and defend" marriage. Given that the U.S. Supreme Court recently found that the Second Amendment associates a right of self-defense with the right...Read More
Black History: The Greensboro Sit-Ins
Filed by Storm Bear | January 30, 2009 8:33 AM |click to enlarge Birth Of A Notion Disclaimer From Wikipedia: The Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, leading to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in American history. On February 1, 1960,...Read More
Creating Change, Day 2: Issues, Issues, Issues!
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 29, 2009 8:00 PM |The second day of the Creating Change Conference in Denver has been packed full of amazing sessions and discussions. The toughest part about today was choosing where to go, since all the topics were so important and interesting. I popped...Read More
Michael Gerson latest temper tantrum... about PEPFAR
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 29, 2009 3:30 PM |There's no other term to describe this latest screed from former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson other than "temper tantrum." The non-sensical tirade goes from extolling the virtues of the Bush Administration to calling anyone who believes in "reproductive rights" (his...Read More
Obama Signs Ledbetter Act into Law
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 29, 2009 2:30 PM |Today President Obama signed into law his first major piece of legislation: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. The new law strengthens workers' ability to bring pay discrimination lawsuits. In this passage you can hear some of the rationale...Read More
Obama Signs Ledbetter Act into Law
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 29, 2009 2:30 PM |Today President Obama signed into law his first major piece of legislation: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. The new law strengthens workers' ability to bring pay discrimination lawsuits. In this passage you can hear some of the rationale...Read More
Best Place to Work? Not if you don't offer benefits to LGBT partners. (Even if you're married!)
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 29, 2009 11:00 AM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Daryl Herrschaft has overseen the Workplace Project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation since 1998. He monitors and evaluates corporate policies surrounding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. In its February 2 issue,...Read More
Sean Penn and PC in Movie Casting
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 29, 2009 10:00 AM |The other day, when accepting his award for best male lead at the SAG Awards, Sean Penn made an important and incisive comment about his experience while playing the role of an out gay activist in Milk. He said, "We...Read More
People of Color and the LGBT Movement at Creating Change
Filed by Jerame Davis | January 28, 2009 7:30 PM |Creating Change 2009 is off to a great start. Denver is a fabulous host city, even if it's below freezing and there is snow on the ground, we don't have the 12 inches of snow that's being reported back home...Read More
Creating Change, Day 1: Racial and Economic Justice
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 28, 2009 6:30 PM |Today was the first full day of Creating Change and it started with a subject that touches everyone- Racial and Economic Justice. This topic has kicked off the Creating Change Conference for the past 35 years and continues to be...Read More
Did We Just Stumble on Another Gay Scandal?
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 28, 2009 2:30 PM |As if flying weren't bad enough nowadays, it seems that cluelessness is on the rise in the skies. As most of you know, I spent yesterday flying to Denver for the Creating Change conference. As if going from 78 degree...Read More
Iceland to name first lesbian head of government
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 28, 2009 1:00 PM |The US became the first majority-white country last week to elect a non-white head of state, and this week Iceland looks like it will become the first country to have an openly-queer head of government. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, a Social Democrat...Read More
Ak-scent-tu-ate the Positive
Filed by Ricci Levy | January 28, 2009 12:30 PM |That phrase is from a (probably very) old song - "Accentuate the Positive," by Johnny Mercer. Well, that's what I feel like doing this morning from here in (really cold!) Denver at Creating Change. Yesterday when I arrived at the...Read More
Ak-scent-tu-ate the Positive
Filed by Ricci Levy | January 28, 2009 12:30 PM |That phrase is from a (probably very) old song - "Accentuate the Positive," by Johnny Mercer. Well, that's what I feel like doing this morning from here in (really cold!) Denver at Creating Change. Yesterday when I arrived at the...Read More
Unanswered Questions - Deconstructing the Equality Summit
Filed by Karen Ocamb | January 28, 2009 11:00 AM |If I was going to NGLTF's Creating Change - and had been invited to deliver a keynote on Prop 8, the Equality Summit and what next - here's what I would have said. The Equality Summit Saturday seemed to achieve...Read More
Unanswered Questions - Deconstructing the Equality Summit
Filed by Karen Ocamb | January 28, 2009 11:00 AM |If I was going to NGLTF's Creating Change - and had been invited to deliver a keynote on Prop 8, the Equality Summit and what next - here's what I would have said. The Equality Summit Saturday seemed to achieve...Read More
Bush's Final Message
Filed by Terrance Heath | January 28, 2009 10:00 AM |You know that tradition that started with Reagan, where the outgoing president leaves a note for the incoming president, in his desk drawer? Well The Progressive has an exclusive of Bush's note to Obama....Read More
Is It Justice Yet?
Filed by Rebecca Juro | January 27, 2009 6:00 PM |Editor's update: After some quirkiness with the comments earlier, they're working fine now. Sorry about the delay. Nope, not yet. So here we are, as of this writing just over one week into the Obama Administration. While it would be...Read More
Is It Justice Yet?
Filed by Rebecca Juro | January 27, 2009 6:00 PM |Editor's update: After some quirkiness with the comments earlier, they're working fine now. Sorry about the delay. Nope, not yet. So here we are, as of this writing just over one week into the Obama Administration. While it would be...Read More
California's attorney general defends freedom of information
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 27, 2009 5:00 PM |California AG Ed Brown filed a brief in the lawsuit to keep Prop 8 donors' names secret, saying that shielding the names would hurt transparency and the democratic process. "Political democracy demands open debate, including prompt disclosure of the identities...Read More
Obama to America: The fundies are still in charge
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 27, 2009 3:00 PM |You want to know who still runs this country? Here's a clue... Christian Defense Coalition calls Speaker Pelosi's decision to add contraceptives to the economic stimulus package bigoted, racist, elitist and anti-child. It is unthinkable that the Speaker of House...Read More
Indiana Legislative Pi(e) Pronouncements
Filed by Don Sherfick | January 27, 2009 11:33 AM |The Indiana General Assembly is back in session, wrangling with budgetary considerations against continuing bad economic news. Still, as always, whether there is really time or not, a number of our Hoosier lawmakers can't resist tossing a variety of far...Read More
Equality Maryland -- A Threat to Public Safety????
Filed by Nancy Polikoff | January 26, 2009 12:00 PM |Last year the news broke that Maryland Police were spying on anti-death penalty and anti-war groups. State Senator (and my colleague at American University Washington College of Law) Jamie Raskin vowed to introduce legislation to block the practice. But now...Read More
Much Ado About Nothing
Filed by Scott Kaiser | January 26, 2009 10:30 AM |A lot of fuss is being made over two little words that President Obama said recently: "I won." President Obama used the above two words in reference to the November election as reason why his ideas regarding a stimulus package...Read More
New Coalition of LGBT Groups forms in Florida
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 26, 2009 10:00 AM |Organizations United Together, or "OUT," a new federation of local LGBT and allied organizations held its first statewide meeting on January 24 in Orlando. According to the press statement, nearly 100 local leaders from across the state met to share...Read More
Yes, I Do! campaign
Filed by Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover | January 26, 2009 10:00 AM |We have just begun our "Yes, I Do" campaign to get US House and Senate members to declare their support for marriage equality. We have started by researching current Members of Congress who support full marriage equality. So far there...Read More
Yes, I Do! campaign
Filed by Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover | January 26, 2009 10:00 AM |We have just begun our "Yes, I Do" campaign to get US House and Senate members to declare their support for marriage equality. We have started by researching current Members of Congress who support full marriage equality. So far there...Read More
Would It Kill You To Look Like A Man? Transgender Employees in Indiana
Filed by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss | January 25, 2009 4:00 PM |Judge Robert L. Miller, a Reagan appointee who sits on the federal district court for the Northern District of Indiana, has recently issued yet another curious decision in the case of Creed v. Family Express Corp. Amber Creed was fired...Read More
Knowing Our Enemy: A Closer Look at the Yes on 8 Lobby
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 25, 2009 2:30 PM |In war, it's the basic axiom that you can't win if you don't know your enemy. Clearly, we who opposed Prop 8 don't know our enemy well enough. If we had, we could have gotten Prop 8 defeated. And the...Read More
If Sam Adams can lose his job for having sex, what about us?
Filed by Tobi Hill-Meyer | January 25, 2009 11:30 AM |Sam Adams, the Mayor of Portland, OR, admitted this week that he engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with an 18 year old. Now he faces editorials and rallies calling for his resignation, and a few of each in his...Read More
Just Say No to Civil Unions -- Hard Evidentiary Version
Filed by Marla R. Stevens | January 24, 2009 4:00 PM |Regarding civil marriage vs. civil unions, a few of us have been crying in the wilderness about things like ... separate ain't equal and never will be and what faux equality does to people's heads and that self-imposing more of it would be just plain shoot-yerself-in-the-foot dumb. Now we've got gummint-sponsored proof by way of the New Jersey Civil Union Commission.Read More
Gay man to recruit Obama appointees
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 24, 2009 2:30 PM |President Obama has appointed smart and talented gay people to positions within his administration, but the appointment of Mark Perriello to the White House Office of Presidential Personnel is the one that I am most excited about. Mark will focus...Read More
Presidential Oaths: Wake-Up Call on the Bible
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 24, 2009 1:00 PM |It is amazing how much churchy cacophony deafens the ears of Americans when it comes to the Bible's place in national life. That kerfuffle over the oops on Obama's oath has gone deafening now, with the crazies screaming at the...Read More
Kirsten Gillibrand picked to succeed Hillary Clinton
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 23, 2009 3:00 PM |No opinion on this one. Empire State Pride Agenda released this statement on US Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand: Last night likely Senate pick [Ed. note: She was named today, video at Towleroad.] Kirsten Gillibrand spoke to Empire State Pride Agenda Executive...Read More
PFLAG's inauguration party made the Indy Star
Filed by Bil Browning | January 23, 2009 3:00 PM |In case you missed contributor Annette Gross's brief moment in spotlight, here's a quick clip from Wednesday's Indianapolis Star Talk of the Town column. The article focuses on some of the many inauguration gatherings around town last Tuesday. Patrons who...Read More
PFLAG's inauguration party made the Indy Star
Filed by Bil Browning | January 23, 2009 3:00 PM |In case you missed contributor Annette Gross's brief moment in spotlight, here's a quick clip from Wednesday's Indianapolis Star Talk of the Town column. The article focuses on some of the many inauguration gatherings around town last Tuesday. Patrons who...Read More
Black History Year
Filed by Kate Clinton | January 23, 2009 2:00 PM |The Inauguration of Barack Obama was the first presidential inauguration I ever attended. Without protesting. On our inaugural pilgrimage to DC our train from NYC was on the track behind then President-elect Barack Obama's train making whistle stops from Philadelphia...Read More
Gays should celebrate Roe anniversary
Filed by Sean Kosofsky | January 23, 2009 10:00 AM |The November elections are only the beginning. We must continue to shovel layer upon layer of dirt onto the grave of right wing political playbooks that have hurt so many Americans. Last year I left the Triangle Foundation in Michigan...Read More
Back in Camelot?
Filed by Annette Gross | January 22, 2009 10:00 PM |Of course I'm thrilled, excited, joyous about Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the United States. I campaigned vigorously for him. But now, my bigger passion is seeing what Michelle Obama is wearing. She looked so elegant at the...Read More
Prop 8 Ours to Lose? Nope - It Was Always an Uphill climb.
Filed by Matt Foreman | January 22, 2009 5:30 PM |A lot of people have been saying that Prop 8 was our side's to lose and that missteps by the No on 8 Campaign snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Those analyses ignore hard core obstacles and fundamentals underlying...Read More
A Purpose Driven Prayer
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 22, 2009 4:30 PM |Pastor Rick Warren delivered his invocation to the masses on Tuesday. It was a huge crowd on a historic occasion- but it was a small and narrow prayer. And it made the man that delivered it seem even smaller and...Read More
Marching Bands and Rushing Judgments
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 22, 2009 3:30 PM |While so many of us were angrily beating our drums over alleged sabotage of Bishop Robinson's LGBT prayer, an LGBT marching band was happily doing a brass fanfare of history as it came filing down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Inauguration...Read More
Breaking: Traditional media sensationalizes sex scandal
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 22, 2009 2:30 PM |Both the Portland Tribune and the Oregonian published editorials calling for Portland mayor Sam Adams to resign. Two days ago it came out that Adams had a relationship with a male 18-year-old former intern, Beau Breedlove, and then lied about...Read More
New Poll: Majority of FL OK with Gay Adoption and Relationships
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 22, 2009 10:00 AM |A new Quinnipiac poll out today says that 55% of Floridians are in favor of getting rid of the ban on gays and lesbians adopting, while only 39% want to keep the decades old ban. Not surprisingly, Democrats and independent...Read More
America's Mountaintop Moment
Filed by Terrance Heath | January 21, 2009 7:00 PM |"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a...Read More
My Favorite Moment Yesterday
Filed by Sara Whitman | January 21, 2009 6:00 PM |Did anyone catch Marian Robinson, the First Grandmother, yesterday? Did you see what she wore? A purple coat. And a red scarf, mittens... it didn't pass unnoticed. I can only imagine a little humor as she donned these items. It...Read More
Breaking News: COPA Died Today
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 21, 2009 5:00 PM |Timing is everything. On the very first day of Obama's administration, the U.S. Supreme Court announced the definitive demise of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The ACLU's lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of this law has been grinding along...Read More
Show Your Support for Hillsborough County!
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 21, 2009 1:00 PM |Kevin Beckner, Hillsborough County's first openly gay commissioner, is asking for the county to look into of providing health benefits for Hillsborough County employees domestic partners. The county is preparing bid requests for a new employee health plan for October...Read More
Of Icebergs and the Mormon Church
Filed by Bobby Parker | January 21, 2009 1:00 PM |Wake up people! We have seen only the tip of the Mormon Church Iceberg. There is so much underneath that the average person would be astonished at the depth and breadth of an organization that thinks it is the only...Read More
Warren Who?
Filed by Marla R. Stevens | January 21, 2009 12:00 PM |I feel like I've drawn my first deep breath in over eight years, now that the Hopester is the new prez.....And, as for Rick Warren's performance, it was the dud of the day. ... We made our point and he struck himself out. Score us the big winner of that round.Read More
Murderers of South African Black Lesbian Soccer Player to Be Tried
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 21, 2009 11:00 AM |With Obama's inauguration over, it's back to basic struggles on LGBT issues...and those include the growing groundswell of violence against us, not only in the U.S. but other countries as well. Bilerico readers will remember my posting last year about...Read More
Portland's Gay Mayor Fesses Up To Sexual Relationship with Teenage Former Staffer
Filed by Jason Tseng | January 21, 2009 10:00 AM |Some sad news comes to us from the Pacific Northwest as Sam Adams, 44, confesses a previously denied sexual relationship with a teenage former staffer, Beau Breedlove, whom he met when Breedlove was just 17. Adams was hailed as the...Read More
Another Socio-Political Tangent
Filed by Chip Clapp | January 21, 2009 10:00 AM |Please note - this post contains profanity. Please stop reading if you are offended by foul language. I was out driving today and stopped at a stop sign. Another car then pulled up to the stop sign to my left...Read More
Don't drop a "Mission Accomplished" sign yet
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 20, 2009 7:30 PM |I hope that people get the celebration out of their systems today, because the Obama administration isn't going to be one long party. There's a lot of pressure coming from various parts of the Democratic Party telling us to be...Read More
What the LGBT Community is Up Against
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 20, 2009 5:30 PM |Waymon asked if the LGBT community needs new thinking for a new president. Judging from some of the predictably bitter comments to Waymon's post and the conspiratorial outrage over technical difficulties and scheduling mishaps around the Gene Robinson inaugural concert...Read More
A Joyfully Broken Chicane
Filed by Father Tony | January 20, 2009 3:30 PM |The word of the day is chicane. I just heard it come from the mouth of an NBC reporter. Let's use it in a sentence: With the inauguration of Barack Obama, the racial chicane of American history has been permanently...Read More
A new website with a new agenda
Filed by Jerame Davis | January 20, 2009 2:30 PM |In the Internet age, the real proof that change has come to the White House can be seen by surfing over to WhiteHouse.gov. President Obama's new website is live and it is just as amazing and groundbreaking as his campaign...Read More
A Scene From The West Wing Kitchen
Filed by Storm Bear | January 20, 2009 2:10 PM |click to enlarge For some reason, during Barack's President Obama's speech, I kept thinking what the kids go through in the Obama household. When Obama spoke about hard work, I thought, "I bet those kids NEVER get out of...Read More
Ding Dong! Bush is really gone!
Filed by Sara Whitman | January 20, 2009 1:30 PM |Forget about Rick Warren. Forget about Gene Robinson's late addition and subtraction from Sunday's event. Forget about the lack of LGBT appointments to the cabinet. Let it go. Just for today. Today is a day of pure celebration. Unlike election...Read More
Complete text of Barack Obama's inauguration speech
Filed by Bil Browning | January 20, 2009 12:30 PM |The complete text of Barack Obama's inauguration speech is below the fold. Thanks to our partners at MSNBC for the text and video from today's ceremony. It's a new day for America. Yes we can....Read More
Livefeed of the Obama inauguration
Filed by Bil Browning | January 20, 2009 11:15 AM |If you can't be near your TV today, hopefully you can be near your computer. We're proud to bring you the inauguration ceremony live. The inauguration of Barack Obama is a truly historical event. .msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:...Read More
Moving Beyond Bush: A Long Road Ahead
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 20, 2009 10:30 AM |The Bush Legacy. The words alone send shivers down my spine and causes my blood to boil. For eight years, we have seen this administration tear apart virtually every part of our lives. War, recession, torture, job loss, deregulation, stripping...Read More
Four years ago...
Filed by Mike Rogers | January 20, 2009 10:00 AM |...I couldn't get a telephone call in DC returned. Times have changed: Watch PageOneQ for my updates, photos and more....Read More
The Bush Legacy
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 19, 2009 5:00 PM |The first election I remember paying attention to with any detail was the 2000 presidential elections. I didn't really get a lot of the very serious inner workings of the campaigns - why wanting to have a beer with someone...Read More
Mission Accomplished
Filed by Cathy Renna | January 19, 2009 3:30 PM |Washington, DC is a very interesting place to live this week. I expect it will be for the next four (hopefully eight) years. After the "We are one" concert yesterday the streets teemed with people and the mood was amazing....Read More
Gay Rights during the Bush Presidency
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 19, 2009 2:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Carlos Mock, MD has published three books and is the Floricanto Press editor for its GLBT series. He was inducted in the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in October of 2007. He grew up...Read More
Ralston and Hudnut: Recognition Overdue
Filed by Douglas Meagher | January 19, 2009 11:30 AM |Statues, monuments, sculpture and public art are ornaments that give cities identity, beauty (usually) and a sense of place. Indianapolis has a good supply of such works, more than most of the forty-three state capitals I've visited. We're a bit...Read More
Does the LGBT Community Need New Thinking for a New President?
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 19, 2009 11:00 AM |I'll be the first to admit that after 8 years of horrendous Bush policies and many more years of seeing our community sacrificed on the altar of politics, I have grown cynical and combative. After so much betrayal, demonization, and...Read More
No. 44: A Cause for Celebration
Filed by H. Alexander Robinson | January 19, 2009 10:00 AM |The inauguration of Barack H. Obama as the 44th president of the United States is cause for pride and hopefulness for America and the world. Sen. Obama's campaign heralded a transformational message of progressive change. His very election, as the...Read More
Bishop Gene Robinson's Speech at the Lincoln Memorial (Video)
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 18, 2009 8:00 PM |Update II: From Leah McElrath at Huffington Post A PIC source reports that some clips from the Lincoln Memorial event, including Bishop Robinson's prayer, will be played on the Mall prior to the swearing in ceremony. In addition, HBO's Cusson...Read More
Barack Obama's Speech at the Lincoln Memorial
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 18, 2009 7:30 PM |Here is the the speech that President-elect Barack Obama delivered at the Lincoln Memorial. His mention of the gay community occurs at roughly the 4 minute mark. After the jump is the text of the speech....Read More
Equal Rep.com/Nation-Wide Campaign to Create a New Secretary of GLBT Affairs. Or, How To Silence Queers and Still Love the Idea of Democracy.
Filed by Yasmin Nair | January 18, 2009 2:30 PM |Oh, this is too amusing for words. Following, perhaps, on the heels of Mary Frances Berry's idea that we should just dump the Commission on Civil Rights in favour of a new organisation that will focus first on, yup, you...Read More
Get Your Hot, Fresh Abortion Doughnuts!
Filed by Waymon Hudson | January 18, 2009 1:00 PM |Let's take a minute to go down the rabbit hole (or doughnut hole, in this case) with yet another bizarre fundie press statement... Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, like every other business in the country, is looking to get in on all...Read More
Equality Summit Includes New Prop 8 Polling Data
Filed by Karen Ocamb | January 18, 2009 10:00 AM |Leaders of the Equality Summit have released their lineup of the long Jan. 24th events. Registration is required before January 20th! Go to www.eqca.org/equalitysummit. The opening plenary sessions will be webcast on www.eqca.org with a 30-minute delay. There has been...Read More
Equality Summit Includes New Prop 8 Polling Data
Filed by Karen Ocamb | January 18, 2009 10:00 AM |Leaders of the Equality Summit have released their lineup of the long Jan. 24th events. Registration is required before January 20th! Go to www.eqca.org/equalitysummit. The opening plenary sessions will be webcast on www.eqca.org with a 30-minute delay. There has been...Read More
Phelps Clan is a No Show in South Florida
Filed by Anthony Niedwiecki | January 17, 2009 4:00 PM |Last night, the Westboro Baptist Church, the group run by Fred Phelps that is best known for their disturbing anti-gay signs and protests at military funerals, failed to show up at their own scheduled protest at the Rising Action Theatre...Read More
Your Pink Sheets Are Showing
Filed by Monica Roberts | January 17, 2009 4:00 PM |I wrote a post a little over 24 hours ago on TransGriot that basically called the gay community out for their continued pattern of knee jerk hostility to President-elect Barack Obama dating back to last year's Democratic primary. I pointed...Read More
California Equality Summit: Transparency vs. Good Strategy
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 17, 2009 10:00 AM |"In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." Those words were written 2500 years ago by a great Chinese general, Sun Tzu, who...Read More
California Equality Summit: Transparency vs. Good Strategy
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | January 17, 2009 10:00 AM |"In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." Those words were written 2500 years ago by a great Chinese general, Sun Tzu, who...Read More
Preemptive Pardons
Filed by Chip Clapp | January 17, 2009 10:00 AM |With Bush's departure, the question of whether or not he will give preemptive pardons to those in his administration is on everyone's lips. There's one problem... When talking about preemptive pardons for things such as torture and, oh I don't...Read More
Why the HELL Are Gays So Excited about Religion?
Filed by Yasmin Nair | January 16, 2009 2:30 PM |Obama has decided that Gene Robinson will deliver the opening prayer at his inauguration, and the gay community is ecstatic at the idea of an openly gay pastor at such a public event. Of course, all this excitement comes after...Read More
A Disappointment
Filed by Terrance Heath | January 16, 2009 10:00 AM |Editors' Note: The image below contains violent and explicit images and video footage. NSFW and possibly a trigger. I’ll be honest. I haven’t paid much attention to Bush’s lame “victory lap,” as the clock finally runs out on his administration....Read More
A Disappointment
Filed by Terrance Heath | January 16, 2009 10:00 AM |Editors' Note: The image below contains violent and explicit images and video footage. NSFW and possibly a trigger. I’ll be honest. I haven’t paid much attention to Bush’s lame “victory lap,” as the clock finally runs out on his administration....Read More
Maybe We Can
Filed by Kate Clinton | January 15, 2009 5:00 PM |On Monday I thought I had completed one of my last official duties as Designated Bush Watcher, a public service I have provided the last eight years for friends and family who were constitutionally incapable of watching or listening to...Read More
It's like living in an alternate dimension
Filed by Bil Browning | January 15, 2009 4:30 PM |Maybe it's because they spend all their time fantasizing about heaven, but the religious nutjobs pushing this session's proposed amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage and civil unions clearly don't a grasp on reality. After businesses and universities both cited domestic...Read More
Rev. Al Sharpton on Marriage, Mormons and Prop. 8
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 15, 2009 2:00 PM |Rev. Al Sharpton left no doubt on where he stands on marriage equality and the passage of Prop. 8 in his speech at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Atlanta: It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that...Read More
The "New" Indiana "Marriage Amendment": The Hypocrisy of "Substantially Similar"
Filed by Don Sherfick | January 15, 2009 1:00 PM |Last Monday afternoon the Indiana Family Institute, flanked by its usual ideological colleagues including Tony Perkins, national president of the Family Research Council, ended the suspense over their perennial offering, the so-called "Marriage Protection Amendment" to the Indiana Constitution. The...Read More
Come See About the Supremes?
Filed by Terrance Heath | January 15, 2009 11:00 AM |Maybe they're just dropping by to say "Hi," before the Obama administration officially starts. But Obama and Biden's pre-inaugural visit to the Supreme Court seems a little odd. They aren't just going to see who looks healthy and who looks...Read More
Advance Indiana vs Indiana Equality
Filed by Bil Browning | January 14, 2009 9:30 PM |Advance Indiana blogger and gay Republican Gary Welsh and I share a mutual distaste for Indiana's statewide LGBT group, Indiana Equality. As soon as I think we might have found common ground - like disbelief at IE President Kathy Sarris's...Read More
Clean Up Time Already?
Filed by Sara Whitman | January 14, 2009 6:00 PM |It's very quiet today. Ben is home sick, lying like the dead on the couch with a high fever. Yesterday it was Zachary. Jake asked me this morning if he was next. I said Wash Your Hands! I must admit,...Read More
The Chickenhawks of the Culture War
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 14, 2009 5:00 PM |I think we've been noticing a disturbing trend among the Religious Right in their attempts to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. They have, for some time, been developing an ethical framework in which someone can do something,...Read More
Obama's inauguration brings mixed feelings for many Black LGBTQ Americans
Filed by Rev Irene Monroe | January 14, 2009 3:30 PM |The last time a nation came to Washington and was mesmerized and stirred to action by the oratory brilliance of an African American man was at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr....Read More
Equality Matters: Online March for LGBT Equality
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 14, 2009 1:00 PM |Equality Matters is launching an Online March for LGBT Equality set for the week of the presidential inauguration January 17-24. Equality Matters is using the power of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to spread the message about...Read More
Confirmed: Obama supported same-sex marriage in 1996
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 14, 2009 10:30 AM |I posted just before the election about the old internet story on the Windy City Times' site from when Obama was running for the Illinois senate that stated that he supported same-sex marriage. Since it wasn't a quotation, but a...Read More
Maine marriage advocates go on the offensive
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 13, 2009 5:00 PM |From the Maine Civil Liberties Union's executive director, Shenna Bellows. They've built a coalition and they're going to push a referendum to recognize same-sex couple's marriages. This is the direction we need to be going in, bringing the battles to...Read More
The nexus: Abortion zealot Jackie Walorski and Indiana's hate crimes legislation
Filed by Bil Browning | January 13, 2009 4:00 PM |The Indianapolis Star brings the encouraging news that the Indianapolis police department has "vowed to step up efforts to identify and report hate crimes" after the LGBT community reacted in outrage over two recent double homicides and IMPD's seeming disregard...Read More
Obama Appoints Highest Gay Official in History
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 13, 2009 1:00 PM |The Washington Post is reporting that John Berry, director of the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. will be named as director of the Office of Personnel Management. Berry served in the Clinton administration as Assistant Interior Secretary. This...Read More
Interview with Tony Perkins at the Indiana Family Institute dinner
Filed by Bil Browning | January 13, 2009 11:00 AM |I went to a dinner sponsored by the Indiana Family Institute to celebrate their re-introduction of a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions to videotape Family Research Council President Tony Perkins' keynote speech and interview some...Read More
Indiana's marriage amendment: Now with more anti-gay feeling
Filed by Bil Browning | January 12, 2009 7:00 PM |Indiana State Representatives Eric Turner (R - Marion) and Dave Cheatham (D - North Vernon) introduced a resolution today to amend them state constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. After language concerns buried the previously proposed amendment, the...Read More
What inclusive means to me
Filed by Bo Shuff | January 12, 2009 5:00 PM |Openly Gay Bishop Gene Robinson will offer a prayer on Sunday at an official Inaugural event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. If this doesn't send chills of hop up your spine, well I just can't help you anymore....Read More
Gay Bishop to Deliver Invocation at Inaugural Event
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 12, 2009 3:00 PM |Openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson has been invited by President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural committee to deliver the invocation at a concert held at the Lincoln Memorial. The concert will be held on Sunday, January 18th and will be the first...Read More
Author of Trans Workplace Study Speaks Out
Filed by Paige Schilt | January 12, 2009 1:30 PM |Back in October, the B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy published an article examining the salary and workplace experiences of transgender men and women "before and after" transition. The article, which was co-authored by economist Matthew Wiswall and sociologist...Read More
Constitutional amendment to be re-introduced today
Filed by Bil Browning | January 12, 2009 12:00 PM |While the Indiana Family Institute has a planned press conference for 3:30pm today at the Statehouse, they've been rather coy about what they plan to announce. Speculation, of course, has swirled that they will be re-introducing a changed version of...Read More
Equal Roots Throws a Fun 'Repeal DOMA' Rally
Filed by Karen Ocamb | January 12, 2009 12:00 PM |Some longtime LGBT organizers have wondered how long the outrage over Prop 8 can be sustained, especially as the anger turns more and more inward, eviscerating our own. The new Los Angeles-based, youth-oriented group Equal Roots is determined not to...Read More
Equal Roots Throws a Fun 'Repeal DOMA' Rally
Filed by Karen Ocamb | January 12, 2009 12:00 PM |Some longtime LGBT organizers have wondered how long the outrage over Prop 8 can be sustained, especially as the anger turns more and more inward, eviscerating our own. The new Los Angeles-based, youth-oriented group Equal Roots is determined not to...Read More
Mitt Romney ran the LCR dry
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 12, 2009 11:00 AM |More specifically, the Log Cabin Republicans have around $100K in consolidated debt. They're blaming the economic downturn, apparently because Sisyphean projects like making the GOP gay-friendly (I don't think LCR considers itself a B or T organization) are the first...Read More
An inside look at 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Filed by Matt Comer | January 12, 2009 10:00 AM |Paul McNeal, a gay former U.S. servicemember, contacted me a while back. He submitted a guest commentary at InterstateQ.com and then sent this "inside look" at "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" over to me a couple days ago. It's posted at...Read More
Activism and Change
Filed by Ricci Levy | January 11, 2009 10:00 AM |A comment I wrote on AlterNet in response to a post about Obama's recovery plan got me started on a line of thought about how we approach advocacy and activism. I guess, since my flame-retardant garments are at the cleaners,...Read More
Activism and Change
Filed by Ricci Levy | January 11, 2009 10:00 AM |A comment I wrote on AlterNet in response to a post about Obama's recovery plan got me started on a line of thought about how we approach advocacy and activism. I guess, since my flame-retardant garments are at the cleaners,...Read More
Bill Richardson: Still my Facebook Friend!
Filed by Kyle Flood | January 10, 2009 3:00 PM |I might be going out on a limb here, but I don't care what people say about Bill Richardson - I still like him! The Former Candidate for President and current New Mexico Governor has had quite a wild ride...Read More
Bill Richardson: Still my Facebook Friend!
Filed by Kyle Flood | January 10, 2009 3:00 PM |I might be going out on a limb here, but I don't care what people say about Bill Richardson - I still like him! The Former Candidate for President and current New Mexico Governor has had quite a wild ride...Read More
Bipart bad, reason #2905: Equal pay for equal work passed House
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 10, 2009 2:30 PM |The House passed two bills this past week to protect equal pay for equal work, the Lilly Ledbetter Act and an amendment to the Paycheck Fairness Act. The former passed with three Republicans voting for it, the latter with ten....Read More
Speak Out Against Early Release of Anti-Gay Killer
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 10, 2009 11:30 AM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Beth Sherouse is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at the University of South Carolina. She is also a Board Member for Sean's Last Wish and the Volunteer Coordinator for South Carolina Equality. In...Read More
New Gay Appointments to the Obama Administration
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 10, 2009 10:00 AM |Two more openly gay people have been appointed to positions within the Obama administration bringing the number gay appointees to four. Fred Hochberg has been appointed chair of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. Hochberg is the former Dean of...Read More
DC Community Prepares for Marriage Fight
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 09, 2009 1:30 PM |Here's a quick update on efforts to win marriage equality in Washington, DC and info on an upcoming event for folks wanting know more about getting involved. In this excerpt from a DC community forum on marriage organized by DC...Read More
The Mormon Church and Proposition 8
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 09, 2009 12:00 PM |Editors' note: This guest post comes to The Bilerico Project courtesy of Exception Magazine. Liz Towne is General Counsel and Director of Advocacy Programs at Alliance for Justice, a coalition of public interest organizations which provides free technical assistance on...Read More
Sarah Palin Unleashed
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 09, 2009 10:00 AM |You gotta love that Sarah Palin. Rather than acknowledge that voters wanted something more than stunt casting out of a vice-presidential candidate, Palin goes on the attack against the "liberal media elites and anonymous bloggers" and blames them for the...Read More
Here Comes the Sun...
Filed by Sara Whitman | January 08, 2009 6:00 PM |The sun is in the perfect spot on the horizon and the light is pouring into my office. Sure beats a SAD light box, not quite as good as Hawaii. It almost seems to radiate enough heat to go sit...Read More
You Don't Know Barney Frank
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 08, 2009 2:30 PM |Jeffrey Toobin has an exhaustive profile of Rep. Barney Frank in the New Yorker. Frank is the dean of gay members of Congress and widely considered the funniest member of Congress for his quick and biting sense of humor. While...Read More
Analysis of California Prop 8 Results
Filed by Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover | January 08, 2009 2:00 PM |A new study of the California Proposition 8 results debunks many of the myths surrounding Prop 8. Below are our conclusions after reading the new study released today by Professors Patrick Egan and Kenneth Sherrill about Proposition 8, which revoked...Read More
House rules go gender neutral
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 08, 2009 1:30 PM |Via Amanda Terkel, here's a bit of the changes to the House's rules:...Read More
1st Openly Gay Cabinet Member? Help Make it Happen!
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 08, 2009 12:30 PM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Paul Sousa is a 21 year old graduating senior in Boston, MA who will be attending law school to pursue his passion in September. He is a community organizer who is co-chair of Join the Impact...Read More
Brent Steele and Johnny Nugent are nuts
Filed by Douglas Meagher | January 08, 2009 12:00 PM |State Senators Johnny Nugent (R-Lawrenceburg) and Brent Steele (R-Bedford) have introduced legislation to prohibit state universities from banning student possession of guns on campuses. Their apparent reasoning is that, in light of recent tragedies such as the Virginia Tech killings,...Read More
Brent Steele and Johnny Nugent are nuts
Filed by Douglas Meagher | January 08, 2009 12:00 PM |State Senators Johnny Nugent (R-Lawrenceburg) and Brent Steele (R-Bedford) have introduced legislation to prohibit state universities from banning student possession of guns on campuses. Their apparent reasoning is that, in light of recent tragedies such as the Virginia Tech killings,...Read More
The Obama Doctrine = Tea Parties
Filed by Bruce Parker | January 08, 2009 10:00 AM |I was elated when President-elect Obama named Hillary Clinton as his nominee for Secretary of State. I have made no secret of my deep affection, respect and obsession for all things Hillary Clinton related. She is brilliant, a savvy politician,...Read More
Gay Rights Threaten Freedom of Belief, Conservative myth 2.0
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 07, 2009 2:30 PM |Editors' note: Guest blogger Travis Ballie is a queer activist currently attending the most politically active campus in the nation, American University. He is a D.C. resident inspired by the Prop 8 protests and hoping to contribute to the"DC For...Read More
The audacity of false hope
Filed by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore | January 07, 2009 12:00 PM |I'm finding it harder and harder to understand progressive and radical-identified people who continually voice their hopes for the Obama administration, hopes that I can't see as anything other than delusional. Like, for example, the hope that Obama will do...Read More
The audacity of false hope
Filed by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore | January 07, 2009 12:00 PM |I'm finding it harder and harder to understand progressive and radical-identified people who continually voice their hopes for the Obama administration, hopes that I can't see as anything other than delusional. Like, for example, the hope that Obama will do...Read More
1st Openly gay Cabinet Member? Help Make it Happen!
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 07, 2009 11:00 AM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Paul Sousa is a 21 year old graduating senior in Boston, MA who will be attending law school to pursue his passion in September. He is a community organizer who is co-chair of Join The Impact...Read More
The Stupid People Roundup
Filed by Bil Browning | January 06, 2009 5:30 PM |Wow. There have been some unabashedly stupid people in the news lately. I, of course, feel obligated to point them out. Indiana Republican Congressman Mark Souder thinks America's number one issue should be intelligent design instead of the economy, the...Read More
Obama Names Gay Man to Head Office of Management and Administration
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 06, 2009 4:30 PM |For the second high profile LGBT appointment to his administration, President-Elect Barack Obama has named Brad Kiley as the director of the Office of Management and Administration. Kiley is currently the director of operations for the Obama-Biden Transition Project and...Read More
Congress Swears In Today! Let them know you care about ENDA!
Filed by Guest Blogger | January 06, 2009 12:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Rea Carey is Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund. Today, January 6, Members of Congress raise their right hand and swear to uphold the Constitution as they begin the new...Read More
Jindal's Latest Attack on Louisiana's Families
Filed by Steve Ralls | January 06, 2009 11:00 AM |Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is often cited as a rising star in Republican politics. One of the party's most visible state executives, he has worked hard to endear himself to the GOP faithful, and has been widely mentioned as a...Read More
Melissa Etheridge: Shut Up and Sing
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 05, 2009 3:30 PM |I know it is not my place to tell Melissa Etheridge when she can and cannot speak, but when she continues to make excuses for Rick Warren's anti-gay bigotry, I have to say to her: shut up and sing. Here...Read More
Analyzing the Prop 8 litigation
Filed by Nan Hunter | January 05, 2009 2:30 PM |As of today, both the defenders of Prop 8 and its challengers will have filed their briefs with the California Supreme Court in the litigation seeking to overturn the popular vote that has reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage. (Amicus...Read More
Back To Reality
Filed by Sara Whitman | January 05, 2009 11:00 AM |I have to be honest- I did not read the paper or watch the news while I was away. In the airport, CNN was reporting on the mess in Israel. At the same time, as we waited in Atlanta for...Read More
Obama might prosecute BushCo for war crimes?
Filed by Bil Browning | January 04, 2009 5:30 PM |An interesting article can be found on the Change.org website by Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com, under the title, "Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration." President-elect Obama recently said, "if I found out that there...Read More
Al Franken's ahead of Norm Coleman by 225 votes
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 04, 2009 1:00 PM |Al Franken is up 225 votes in Minnesota in his race for the US Senate. The state Canvassing Board is expected to certify the results and declare him the winner tomorrow. His opponent, the incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, is expected...Read More
What is really going on in Gaza
Filed by Storm Bear | January 04, 2009 11:45 AM |click to enlarge As we all have, I have been watching the Israeli Defense Force assault on Gaza over the last few days. And from what I can tell, it is exactly like shooting fish in a barrel. I...Read More
Knowing Our History
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 04, 2009 10:00 AM |An intense discussion is being played out over the film Milk and whether or not it offers a sanitized version of Harvey Milk's life and gay movement history. In the Huffington Post Nancy Goldstein says: Was Van Sant afraid that...Read More
DC Mayor to Meet with Gay Activists
Filed by Michael Crawford | January 03, 2009 4:00 PM |DC mayor Adrian Fenty has agreed to meet with LGBT community activists about ways to stem anti-LGBT violence following a wave of attacks that include the December 16th murder of Durval Martins. Mayor Fenty had come under intense criticism for...Read More
An Openly Gay Judge to Sit on South Africa's Highest Court
Filed by Nancy Polikoff | January 03, 2009 1:00 PM |Congratulations to Justice Edwin Cameron, who has just been appointed a Judge on South Africa's Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country. President Kgalema Motlanthe announced the appointment earlier this week. Until this appointment, Justice Cameron sat on the...Read More
Roland Burris: A monument to himself
Filed by Bil Browning | January 02, 2009 3:00 PM |Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's appointment to Barack Obama's former seat in the Senate, Roland Burris, is one classy guy. You'll notice cutting spending has not been one his top priorities. Maybe this marble monument to himself can explain why. Yes,...Read More
ACLU files suit in Arkansas to overturn Act 1
Filed by Alex Blaze | January 02, 2009 2:30 PM |I don't know why, but I was much more upset that Arkansas's Act 1, which banned unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children in an attempt to overturn their supreme court decision that found the ban on gay adoption unconstitutional,...Read More
Tying up those loose ends from 2008
Filed by Nan Hunter | January 02, 2009 10:00 AM |2008 was an incredible political year, mostly because the guy who everyone thought was placing his mark for a future presidential race ended up winning the big prize himself. Oh yes, and he's African-American. And he carried North Carolina, Virginia...Read More
